The present invention relates generally to a new and improved windshield arrangement particularly adapted for use in operator driven vehicles, particularly passenger carrying vehicles, such as buses which are equipped with overhead interior lighting systems.
Present day passenger carrying vehicles generally have windshields that extend across the full width of the front of the vehicle. The full width windshield provides the operator of the vehicle with a wide range of vision thereby allowing the vehicle to be operated with a greater degree of safety. With this use of the full width windshield, the difficulties accompanying night driving are increased due to the large area of the windshield acting as a reflective surface with respect to the overhead lighting system used in the interior of the vehicle. The sources of light within the vehicle contact the windshield so as to cause a reflection of images of various objects within the vehicle on the inner surface of the windshield. The reflection of these images interfere with the clearness of observation from the operator's seat and tends to produce blinding or distracting effects in the operator's line of vision. This is particularly true when the vehicle is operated in dark areas such as residential areas or country roads.
Efforts have been made to overcome this particular problem and such efforts have included, for example, the use of a dark curtain placed directly behind the driver's seat. This form of protective measure aids the operator only by cutting down the reflections on that portion of the windshield immediately in front of the driver. However, the remaining portion of the windshield is unprotected and the illumination from the interior of the vehicle casts images upon the unprotected portion and in effect materially reduces the advantageous use of this portion of the windshield by the operator.
Operators of passenger carrying vehicles which tend to travel through dark country areas have resorted to the necessity of reducing the amount of interior illumination within the vehicle while retaining illumination of a degree adequate to satisfy safety regulations. As a result, passengers are unable to read and a principal means of reducing the tedium of long trips is unavailable for use. To overcome this problem, vehicle manufacturers have gone to great expense on personal reading lights which direct a restricted beam of light in a limited area so as not to interfere with the operator's vision. Such installations are expensive, not only with respect to original costs but also from the standpoint of maintenance. Also, although the problem of direct shining of the lights on the interior of the front windshield has been eliminated, the reflected light that bounces off the passengers and other structures within the bus continue to pose a problem for the driver.
One manner of reducing the amount of reflected light from overhead interior lights and light reflection off passenger's faces and clothing would be to tilt the front windshield rearwardly with such a sufficient angle that direct light from the bus interior lights would be reflected downwardly below the driver's field of vision as would light reflections off the passenger's faces and clothing. The problem with this solution is that this would cause the entry door to be located rearwardly from its original position thus causing the bus to overhang its front axle too far. The result is that the front end of the bus is susceptible to scraping damage on ramps. Since door widths should be as wide as possible, there is not enough room for a steeply sloped windshield and an entry door of adequate width forward of the steering axle.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a reflection-proof windshield for the operator of a transit vehicle.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a wider entry door for the passenger and at the same time eliminating the interior reflection glare problem for the vehicle operator.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a transit vehicle front end having two windshields wherein the divider between them is oriented such that its orientation in the line of the vehicle operator's line of sight would not obscure the driver's field of vision any more than a conventional divider strip.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a design for the front end of a transit vehicle that better utilizes its space.